It's certainly more wintery out there now! We're covering our eyes when opening the daily weather forecast thread at this stage. But, on the bright side as one of the Christmas forum Mods pointed out, it is December Eve

First up, some technical site news. We recently made a change so that international visitors are no longer directed to the Responsive Site by default. The site will, however, remember your cookie preference so if you've been using the Responsive Site, you will continue to do so. You can switch between the two versions of the site via the link in the footer.

Good news for those of you who have been missing updates from the Forum Games forum! The forum is reflecting on the year as part of The Wolfies - the 2018 Forum Games Werewolf Awards. Users are being asked to vote on their favourite game, Mod team, Wolf/Serial Killer Team, new role, and many more. Find out more about The Wolfies and get involved here. There will also be a new game getting underway shortly if you'd like to see how this forum works.

One story with a happy ending that you may have missed came from the Animals & Pet Issues forum. Sheepdish1's cat went missing at the beginning of October, but one month later they were reunited 1km away from where they escaped. The full thread can be found here, but if you just want the good news the update can be read here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...#post108505031.

We have plenty of sporting news to talk about too, particularly from the Athletics & Running forum. For starters, we have a new wave of accomplished marathon runners as our mentored novices took part in the Dublin City Marathon. Great advice, insights, and support was provided from April, with training kicking off in June. Now that it's all done and dusted, people have been sharing their times and race reports from their first ever Dublin City Marathon. Some of our more regular DCM runners also took part and posted their own times and recaps.

Elsewhere in the Athletics & Running forum, there were Boardsies running the Amsterdam and Frankfurt marathons. Some Boardsies also took part in Run the Line 2018, in aid of Dublin / Wicklow Mountain Rescue. It sounds like a great, but somewhat treacherous, day out and the race reports are an interesting read.

The Boards Golf Society rounded out a great year by retaining The Ryder Jug. New Forest Estate was the course of choice for this prestigious event and in the end, the Boards Golf Society beat the Reps 3.5:2.5. Members are looking to next year already and benny79 has announced where and when the Boards Golf Society will be playing in 2019 along with other details. New members are welcome!

The final bit of news on the sporting front comes from the Fitness forum where COH posted details of the fourth Learn to Lift Workshop for Ladies. This is aimed at ladies who are new to lifting who would like to learn about warm ups, proper technique and form, nutrition and more. The placements have been filled, but hopefully there will be more sessions in the future. COH also noted that there could be a separate session for lads new to lifting if there was sufficient interest.

A little while ago, we highlighted the story of Gorteen who found an old rolex that they had picked up in a car boot sale. Despite looking a bit worse for wear, they wondered if it was a genuine article and consulted with the Watches & Timepieces forum. They recently provided an update to inform users that they've had offers of around €14,000 and have seen some for sale in the region of €20,000 online! Time to check the attic!

There have been some other interesting, informative, or feel good contributions across the site in recent weeks too. The Animals & Pet Issues' Secret Santa is underway for this year. If you'd like to gift something to a furry friend (they don't necessarily have to be furry though!) and get a surprise in return for one of your own, add your interest here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057924870. The closing date is today so register quickly!

On the informative front, ED E wrote a comprehensive guide to Fibre to the Home in the Broadband forum. If you've wondered why you might want/need it, what's entailed in getting it, or a variety of other questions, have a read through their detailed explainer here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057927096

Over in the Travel forum, there was a nice update after TheTravelLife took to Boards to tell everyone that they had a great time in Ireland, staying for more than two months when the initial plans was to stay for three weeks!